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The European leveraged loan market grew by €2.5 billion in December, bringing the asset class to a record €181 billion at year-end, from €178.5 billion in November, according to LCD’s European Leveraged Loan Index (ELLI).

While issuance of new leveraged loans stalled in December, the Index grew, as a number of November launches allocated and joined the ELLI.

Overall, the size of the invested institutional market increased by 30% during 2018, as tracked by the ELLI, on the back of strong supply of M&A-related loans. Institutional new-issue volume for this purpose rose to a post-crunch high of €57.7 billion last year — up from €41.6 billion in 2017, and above the roughly €30 billion average between 2014 and 2016, according to LCD.

Opportunistic transactions such as refinancings and recaps declined significantly in 2018, to just €19.6 billion, from the €58.5 billion record-high tracked in 2017. Moreover, roughly 70% of the 2018 tally came from the first half of the year. – Marina Lukatsky

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